Food Program |  Mother to Mother Program and Newsletters |  After School Program |  Workshop Series/Continuing Education |  Summer Camp

Mary House offers a supplemental food program to meet our residents and after-school families' daily food needs. Food items include donated staples from the religious community and local schools. Mary House also accesses food from the Capital Area Food Bank located near our office.We hold a food pickup at one of our sites on the first Tuesday of each month and deliver food to our other sites when families do not have the time or ability to pick up from the pantry. On the second and fourth Thursday of each month we hand out food to our after-school families. Many families receiving services from Mary House need a secondary source of food. Often, the choice must be made between paying rent or buying groceries. Families living at Mary House and families referred to Mary House are given the opportunity to have that burden alleviated by participating in the food program.

In February 2002, the mothers of Mary House came together for the first time to find support and a voice within the organization. Currently, Mother to Mother welcomes mothers living in and receiving services from Mary House as well as alumnae of the program. The program has expanded to include bi-monthly meetings as mothers come together for events and to prepare the newsletter. Through these meetings, mothers identify issues and obstacles that impact their lives and learn about resources and information to improve their lives. The group focuses on issues of common concern for mothers: caring for their families, mental health, child safety, raising children in a foreign country, etc. Mothers write articles about their cultural traditions and holidays, recipes from their home country, and other articles about their experiences either in the US, their home country, or both. A Mary House staff member also adds articles based on mothers’ suggestions. If mothers want to learn about homeownership, the staff member will gather information on that topic and write an article that will appear in the newsletter. At this meeting, the mothers also discuss what topics they would like to learn about through a workshop. Then the Mary House staff member finds an agency or person to present that topic in a workshop and the mothers attend.

Mary House began its after school program in 1997. A mother from Bosnia approached staff asking for assistance in reading one of the teacher's notes. Translating notes gradually led to tutoring children. Other families heard of the assistance, and in time the families relying on Mary House expanded to people living outside of the program, giving birth to what would become one of the most dynamic tutoring and mentorship programs in the District. Today, the program assists up to twenty-five students representing countries from North, Central and South America; Europe and Africa. Our efforts are strengthened through the help and cooperation of Trinity College, Catholic University, American University, Georgetown, as well as students from local area middle and high schools. Our experience shows evidence that the fabric of our community is widely enriched not only by its inhabitants but by the dedicated efforts of those who wish to see our neighbors prosper.

Mary House families and local area residents benefit from a number of customized workshops to further advance their independence and integration into American society. Once a month the program hosts representatives to speak to pertinent issues like money management, home ownership, scholarships and loan opportunities to pursue business ventures. More recently, Mary House staff have been working on future presentations targeting health insurance and Internet child safety. Each presentation is geared at introducing our families to a different aspect of living a successful and productive life. It is our hope that these continuing education presentations will provide our families with resources they might have never otherwise known.

Mary House offers a summer day camp for children involved in our After School Program. Each year has a theme for the children to reflect upon with last year’s theme focusing on the children’s communities. This year Mary House will be spending the summer learning about various career fields that would be of interest to our children.